Lovestruck MySpace teen not guilty of harassment, court says

The annals of history are replete with examples of teenage angst and unrequited love. It took the state of New York to make those a crime.

State prosecutors decided to charge Isaiah Rodriguez, 18, of aggravated harassment and endangering the welfare of a child over a series of MySpace.com messages professing his ardent devotion to a 14-year-old girl.

The messages said, in part: "I love you;" "we need to be together;" I will see you every day;" and "I will never stop trying to talk to you."

That, according to the solons in the New York state attorney general's office, amounts to a violation of Section 240.30 of the state penal code. It says: "A person is guilty of aggravated harassment in the second degree when, with intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person...causes a communication to be initiated by...electronic means...in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm."

Fortunately, the New York City criminal court thought otherwise. In a ruling on April 4, Judge Michael Gerstein in Brooklyn wrote this, which I've excerpted (thanks to Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman for the tip):

The words "we need to be together;" "I will never stop talking to you;" and "I love you" are not threats, but appear to be merely the symptoms of unrequited love--the same hopeless affection that, among countless others, Dante felt for Beatrice; Don Quixote for Dulcinea; Cyrano for Roxane; Quasimodo for Esmeralda; Young Werner for Lotte; Jay Gatsby for Daisy Buchanan; and that Charlie Brown felt for the Little Red Haired Girl. While these romances do not usually end well for the pursuing party, the People have cited neither statute nor case law that might punish the communication of unrequited love, even if such is undesired.

Teenagers are especially vulnerable to the "madness most discreet" that makes sad hours seem long. Mere pages before he met Juliet, Romeo pined for Rosaline; Adrian Mole longed for Pandora Braithwaite in volume after volume of his "secret diaries;" and Dion implored of the skies up above, "why must I be a teenager in love?" vowing, just a few verses later, that "if you should say goodbye, I'd still go on loving you." When teenagers fall in love, as song lyrics and studies show, they are more likely to exhibit almost manic behaviors, take risks, act compulsively, and sometimes pursue, with reckless abandon, the objects of their affection. While the actions of a love-struck teenager may well be foolish, reckless, or otherwise acts which might not be expected from a mature adult, they are not, without more, elevated to crimes.

The allegations in the Complaint merely establish that Defendant declared his feelings for the Complainant. Conversely, the Complaint is devoid of allegations that the Defendant knew his declarations would be coldly received. The alleged messages that form the basis of the charge of Aggravated Harassment were transmitted through Myspace, a social networking website that allows each user to choose which friends will be part of his or her network. When another Myspace user receives an invitation to be friends, he or she must choose whether or not to communicate with the requesting user. At any time, a Myspace user may remove friends from his or her network, or may block unwanted communications. Thus, while it is reasonable to assume that at some point, Complainant added the Defendant, under his nom de plume"looking 4 the right one in my life," to her list of friends, the Complaint contains no allegations that Complainant attempted to quell Defendant's love by blocking Defendant's messages or by asking him to cease writing her. We therefore find that the Complaint fails to show that the Defendant intended to alarm, threaten or annoy the Defendant.

Although the court didn't go there, another problem is that the state law violates the First Amendment and New York state's constitution. That's because the First Amendment protects even annoying speech--otherwise some overtly political Web sites, let alone sites like Annoy.com, might not even be able to exist.

[marianmerritt]

Eloquent and just court decision

I enjoyed reading the judge's decision in this case - how often can you say that? Not only a just verdict (can we all calm down about social networking and learn to live with it?) but one with style!

Marian Merritt
Symantec/Norton Internet Safety Advocate

[mikalg]

Wholeheartedly Agree

The Judge is well read, educated, intelligent, and his opinion reads very well. I would not be surprised to see him further himself in politics beyond the bench.

[Phatom3]

The Real Love!

I deal with people from eight to eighty in all nations, human race all over the world, through out the four corners. And they all have one thing in commin, They are all seeking and searching for the real love from another human being... To share there life together as one human being to another human being. And The Real Love is in the hearts of everyone in the world, through out the four corners of the world. They bring it out in movies, music, and art. What beat the evil with in the world, is the unconditional love of Our Father God Almighty King Jesus Christ, Who is in our hearts, through out the four corners of the world in the human beings hearts of all nations, races, human beings. So life on earth can continue on for all etenrity. Forever Amen...

[psychojg]

Thank God For Love and Getting Over It

I appreciate this ruling on a personal level, because I was very much in love and writing in my personal journals for a long time and would not want it to be construed as something then what it really is, me writing down exactly how I feel and what I went through... and I should as the owner be able to post, sell, redistributed these writings as long as it is understood for what it is and the time it was written... but I understand that certain individuals might take it to a next level... and that is a different story and should be handled appropriately by the law.

[danagman]

unchecked prosecutor

This guy needs to be taken out of his position of authority. Anybody that would bring a frivolous situation like this to be prosecuted should be dis-barred.

[drfrost]

A judge with some common sense. Wow... I think I would have been less surprised by a talking canine.